The original script from the award-winning video series Trial and Testimony of the Early Church. Program 5: TESTIMONY

NIGEL: These early Christians would have a difficult time understanding our modern Christmas and all the fanfare we make over it.

STEVE: This is the Church of the Nativity in the little town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born. More than any other site, we associate Bethlehem with the celebration of Christmas. Yet, it may surprise you to hear that Christmas and the birthday of Christ were not even celebrated in the first 300 years of the church.

STEVE: Since the early Christians did not celebrate the birth of Christ, they did not preserve for us the exact date when Jesus was born. Scholars are agreed it had to be sometime between 4 and 7 BC. But the December 25 date was not introduced until the mid 300s. And the celebration of Christmas itself was introduced late in the fourth century to adapt and replace Roman pagan festivals.

It's Easter that was the important time for the early church, but the “birthdays” that were celebrated were those of the great martyrs that died for their faith. And why birthdays? For the early church, the day of martyrdom was the birthday of entering the presence of God.

NIGEL: Here some of their names are recorded: Pothinus, Zacharias, Sanctus, Epagathus, Attalus, Maturus, Alexander, Ponticus, Asclibiades, Macarius, Sylvius, Primus.

We know so little about that vast anonymous army that joined the ranks of the early Christians and spread the message to the far corners of the empire. But perhaps indirectly, we can get a better feeling for them by looking at the stories that they treasured and the models that they sought to emulate.

STEVE: With the help of my three colleagues, Nigel, Jane and Russell, we'll now look at two of the most noteworthy and influential martyrs, Polycarp and Perpetua. Their stories were recorded, circulated, and celebrated by those who shared their faith and the threat of their fate.

RUSSELL: One of the most cherished stories of martyrdom in the early church comes from the city of Smyrna and tells of the experience and martyrdom of the aged and beloved bishop Polycarp. Polycarp was considered of exceptional importance in the early church because he had been a personal disciple of the apostle John. Right after his death a letter was written to be circulated among the churches in the region. The churches needed to know of the sufferings and the persecution in Smyrna-and how the church there and its leaders were responding to the martyrdoms.

NIGEL: The letter tells how some believers were fed to the beasts in an arena like this one, dying a horrible death as they were chewed up limb by limb. Then the crowds cried for the leader, the bishop Polycarp.

The record states that their leaders taught that Christians were not to make themselves available for martyrdom nor to seek it out, but neither were they to avoid it when there was no choice. So Polycarp went and hid on a farm. A while later he moved to a second location. The authorities arrived at the first location and, finding that Polycarp had left, arrested two slave boys, torturing one of them into telling them where Polycarp had gone. Then they moved on to the second location, taking the slave boy with him.

Polycarp welcomed his captors as if they were friends, talked with them, and ordered that food and drink be served to them. Then he requested that he be given one hour before they took him away so that he might pray. The officers, overhearing his prayers that went on for two hours, began to have second thoughts. What were they doing, coming and arresting an old man like this?

He was brought before the proconsul and, here again, we see the tendency of the Roman authorities to prefer that the accused renounce their faith rather than to have to put them to death. So they did their best to reason with him.

RUSSELL as PROCONSUL: Consider your age, old man. Just swear by the genius of Caesar. Just change your mind. Say, “Away with the atheists.”

NIGEL as POLYCARP: “Away with the atheists.”

PROCONSUL: Swear as I have said. Just curse Christ and I will release you.

POLYCARP: Eighty-six years I have served him. He has never done me any wrong. How then shall I blaspheme my King who has saved me?

PROCONSUL: Then do this. Just swear by the genius of the emperor, and that will be sufficient.

POLYCARP: If you imagine I would do that, then you pretend that you don't know who I am. Let me speak plainly. I am a Christian. If you are willing to learn of the teachings of Christianity, then appoint a time to hear.

PROCONSUL: Then why don't you persuade the crowds gathered here?

POLYCARP: I will not even try. In their present frenzied mood, they are neither worthy nor interested to hear of my defense.

PROCONSUL: You stretch my patience very thin. I have the wild beasts ready. I will have them set upon you if you do not do as I require.

POLYCARP: Bring them forth, if that is your decision. I would change my mind if it were a matter of going from wrong to right but not if it means going from the better to the worse.

PROCONSUL: I have other methods. If the wild beasts do not persuade you, I will have you burned alive, slowly roasted, so you will soon wish that you had the good sense to accept my mercy.

POLYCARP: Your fire may last for an hour, then it is over. But do you not know of the judgment to come, the punishment that is forever. Have you not thought of that Mr. Proconsul? Oh, you may do with me as you wish, but one day you will stand before the judge of heaven and earth.

NIGEL: As they went back and forth, observers said that the aged Polycarp seemed to gain strength and courage so that his face seemed to glow. The proconsul was amazed. He sent his herald into the middle of the stadium to announce three times to the crowd that Polycarp had confessed to being a Christian. Maybe he thought that the confession would satisfy the mob. But it didn't. They were hungry for his blood and screamed forth their accusations: “This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians. He is the destroyer of our gods. He leads many away from our sacrifice and worship.”

So with one voice the crowd cried for him to be burned. They began to nail him to the pyre, but Polycarp said no, that the one who would allow him to endure the flames would strengthen him to stay put without being nailed. He began to pray aloud, thanking God for his goodness and for the privilege of being counted among the martyrs, to partake of the cup of Christ, and to offer himself up as a sacrifice to God.

The fire was lit, and those believers present reported how they could detect a fragrant aroma. They said it was like a loaf of bread being baked. The fire did not consume him. The executioner had to stab him with a dagger to snuff out his life, and when he was stabbed, the blood gushing forth put out the fire. Then he died.

There was resistance to allowing the Christians to gather Polycarp's remains but they were finally permitted to do so and gathered them up like precious jewels. They buried him on February 22, probably in the year 155. Polycarp was the twelfth to be martyred at Smyrna, they reported. They set aside the anniversary of his martyrdom as a day to remember. It was celebrated like a birthday in memory of those who had died for their faith and for the strengthening and preparation of those who would one day have to.

RUSSELL: It was very important to his followers that the details of these events be carefully written down. So a report was prepared, copied, and circulated among the churches, offering them an important link back to the apostles because of Polycarp's association with the apostle John.

Now we don't know how many people were actually martyred here in the Roman Coliseum, but we do know that across the empire there were many instances of the Christians thrust into these public arenas to do battle for their faith, and on this site, a memorial cross still stands as a kind of silent reminder of how, even in their deaths, they achieved a kind of victory.

STEVE : In the early church, women assumed a very important role. Many of them were numbered among the martyrs. Women often were central to the life and faith of the church, and they probably constituted the majority of its members. For example, after the church in the town of Cirta in North Africa was seized in the year 303, only sixteen men's tunics were found, but there were eighty-two women's tunics. The women in the early church came from all social classes, and that was illustrated well by a martyrdom account that ranks with Polycarp's as one of the most cherished by the churches. When persecution broke out around the year 200 under the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus, a young Christian woman named Perpetua was arrested in the North African city of Carthage. Also arrested were her friends, Satyrus, Saturninus, her slave girl, Felicitas, also a second slave Revocatus. Perpetua, who was fluent in Latin and Greek, kept a diary of her prison experience right up to the day of her execution. And it was carefully preserved by her fellow Christians. In fact, it may be the first document we have from the pen of a Christian woman. Let's pick up her account as Perpetua tells how her father visited her in prison, trying to convince her to renounce her faith.

JANE as PERPETUA: “Father,” I said, “do you see this water pot here?” “Yes, of course, “ he replied. “Well, that's just what it is. It isn't something else, like a necklace. Can it be called by anything other than what it is?” “Of course not,” he replied. “Then, I can't be called anything other than what I am and I am a Christian.” At that, my father was angered and rushed towards me as if to attack me. But he composed himself quickly and left. Then two of the deacons in our church, Tertius and Pomponius, who were especially concerned about us, bribed some of the guards and had us moved to a nicer part of the prison to refresh ourselves.

I was allowed to hold and nurse my baby. The poor little thing was faint from hunger. I was anxious and spoke to my mother and my brother about my little boy and gave the baby into their charge. How difficult it was to see how they suffered in their pity for me. But very soon I was allowed to have my baby stay with me in prison and then it seemed like all at once I felt much better. Relieved of the worry about the child, I regained my health. Now my prison seemed to me like a palace, and I was content to stay here.

Well, the date was set when we were to go before the governor. So my father, who was so worried about me, was allowed to visit me again. “My daughter, “ he said, “think of me, your father, and my gray hair. Do not bring this great disgrace upon me. I will be held in contempt by everyone. And think of your mother, your aunt, your baby. Most of all think of your baby. Give up your pride-it will destroy us all. None of us will ever be able to hold our head up in public again.”

I could see that my father loved me as he spoke. I tried to comfort him. “It will be in the prisoner's dock as God wills,” I said. “He will not leave us to ourselves. We are all kept in his power.” My father left in great sorrow.

Then one morning at breakfast time we were suddenly rushed before the governor. The rest of our company were questioned and each admitted in turn that they were guilty of being Christians. Then when it came to my turn, my father rushed forward, pulled me from the step, and insisted : “Offer up the sacrifice--have pity on your baby.” “I will not sacrifice,” I said. “Are you a Christian?” Hilarius asked. “Yes, I am,” I answered. My father kept trying to persuade me, and then Hilarius ordered him to be thrown to the ground and beaten with a rod. Oh, how that hurt to see my father beaten! I felt the pain as if they were beating me. Then sentence was passed, condemning us to be thrown to the beasts, but first we were returned to this prison. We were in high spirits.

My dear Felicitas was eight months pregnant when we were arrested. We were so concerned about her because it was illegal for pregnant women to be executed. She would have to wait until after the baby was delivered. She wouldn't have the company of the rest of us in her death. So in one outpouring of common grief, we prayed for Felicitas. And two days before we were due to be taken to the amphitheater, she delivered her baby. One of the Christian women promised that, if Felicitas were not allowed to live, she would take care of the baby and bring it up as her own. How Felicitas rejoiced that she had been safely delivered and could now go and face the wild beasts! She said she was ready to go from the blood of childbirth to the blood of the gladiator to wash after childbirth with a second baptism.

RUSSELL: That's as far as Perpetua could take the story in her diary. The events that followed were carefully written down by her fellow Christians and saved with her account.

The day arrived. Satyrus, Saturninus, Revocatus, Felicitas, and Perpetua were taken from the prison to the amphitheater. There the Roman officers prepared to dress them in the pagan religious costumes. This was the practice to signify that they were being offered as a sacrifice to the gods. Perpetua strongly objected, saying, “We came here of our own free will, so that our liberty would not be violated. We pledged our lives in order not to sacrifice to these gods. And you agreed with us about this!” So the officer relented, and they were allowed into the arena in their own clothes.

They were brought before the waiting mob. As they approached the Governor Hilarius they gestured to him, saying, “You have condemned us, but God will condemn you.” At this the crowd was enraged and ordered that they be scourged before a whole line of gladiators. They simply rejoiced that they obtained a share in the Lord's sufferings.

For the women, a mad heifer was brought forth. They stripped Felicitas and Perpetua naked, placed them in nets and dragged them to the center of the arena. Even the crowd was appeased when they saw that one was a delicate young girl and the other fresh from childbirth with milk dripping from her breasts, so they were taken back and given unbelted tunics to wear.

Then they were set before the heifer, who threw Perpetua to the ground, and she tore her tunic. She quickly covered herself, as much for her modesty as for her pain. Then she asked for a pin to fasten her hair, for she did not see it fitting to die with her hair unkempt and miss her hour of triumph.

She had seen that Felicitas had been thrown to the ground. She ran to her, picked her up, and the two stood together side by side. The crowd was appeased , and she was taken back to the gate where she spoke to her brother and the other catechumens, saying, “Be strong in the faith, stand firm, love one another. Do not be weakened by what you have seen us going through.” Then, as the contest came to a close a leopard was brought forward. It bit Satyrus and, drenched in his own blood, he was taken to the usual spot to have his throat cut. Then all the other martyrs went to that spot of their own accord. Then they took the sword silently without moving. Then Perpetua was struck to the bone and she screamed out, but then she took the trembling hand of the young gladiator and guided the sword to her own throat. It was as if she could not be dispatched unless she herself were willing.

KEN CURTIS: It was these stories of Polycarp and Perpetua and others that played such an important role in the early church. For they found strength in these stories to meet the later times of persecution. As a result, we have a movement that could not be intimidated. It seemed that no torture could be developed, no threat devised that could break the resolution of those who were determined to stand firm for their faith. How many died in the persecutions up to the year 312 when Constantine made the faith legal? We really don't know. But we do know that the church would not have been the same kind of church without its martyrs. Indeed, the church may not have even survived without its martyrs. And keep this in mind, too: martyrdom was not something that was confined to the early centuries and years of the church. In every single period, there have been those courageous men and women who have been willing to surrender their lives rather than deny their faith.

STEVE: In fact in our own 20th century there have been far more martyrs for the Christian faith than in the first 300 years.

Today in at least dozens of nations, Christian believers are prohibited from propagating their beliefs, and in many of these countries they face persecution, imprisonment, and even death.

STEVE: In our next and final program we will look at the great transition that took place under the emperor Constantine. It was the period when the church went from being the persecuted to becoming the privileged and the favored faith of the empire. We will also see what it was about the life and faith of the early Christians that enabled them to survive and to thrive.